WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed at UN Headquarters in New York for talks which included the state of the global climate.

WMO is marking International Women’s Day with a celebration showcasing the careers of female staff and with renewed commitments to gender equality. The UN theme for International Women's Day 2018 is “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”.

The World Meteorological Organization has appointed Pavel Kabat as its first chief scientist and research director. He will lead the overall strategic direction of the WMO science, and its underlying research activities, including the World Climate Research Programme, the World Weather Research Programme and WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch, which monitors greenhouse gas concentrations, air quality and the ozone layer.

The theme for World Water Day campaign explores nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century. This year marks 25 years of the annual global focus on water. To mark the event, WMO devoted its Bulletin to a special issue on water.

The WMO Commission for Basic Systems (CBS) is holding a special technical conference to brainstorm on future directions on data, infrastructure and service issues. This guidance is necessary because technology and science is advancing quickly, and WMO and its Members need to respond rapidly to changes in order to continue to improve weather, climate and water operations and services.